At The End Of A Tragedy
by Tie-grr
Summary: Just where does Larten go every year? And what happens this year, when Arra accompanies him? LartenxArra. Please R
1. Where does he go?

Larten Crepsley was an odd sight at the best of times. A thin man with pale skin and a face that looked like a demented circus clown. But tonight, he was dressed up in his full odd way. Well, odd to anybody who didn't know him that is. With his bright red hair spiked up and his blood red suit on, he made his way through the dark streets. Oh, forgot to mention, Larten Crepsley is a vampire, over a century old.

The tails of his long coat flapped around his ankles as he made his way down the pavement. His eyes scanned all of the houses that he passed. He knew that they lived somewhere, one of these houses had to be theirs. He shouldn't have left it so many years and found himself mentally cursing his absence. Since he had discovered his relatives had moved back to the area he grew up in, he made it a point to visit them every year on the anniversary of his 'death'. Only thing was, they didn't know he watched them. He couldn't tell them who he was, he wouldn't do that to anybody. So he settled for standing in the shadows. Sure, he felt like some creepy stalker but the urge to see the grandchildren of his brothers and sisters was too overwhelming to keep him away.

Suddenly, he stopped dead. His acute hearing had picked up some movement from a nearby alleyway. It could just be a cat rummaging through some rubbish bins but he had to be certain. Turning his attention to the alleywayhe wandered into it silently. There were no other sounds and he saw no signs of recent movement in the bins. But he felt eyes on him and that caused his hands to have a mind of their own. Within less than a second he had a knife drawn from his belt and held against the throat of the person trying to creep up behind him. Meeting the eyes of his stalker, he felt a wave of surprise.

"Arra?" He quizzed, slowly withdrawing his knife. "What on earth are you doing here? I thought you were at the mountain.." He replaced the knife in its holster as Arra rubbed her throat with a small grimace.

"I wanted to see where on earth you went every year.. Do you pull your knife on everybody who appraches you?" She hissed but there was no signs of anger on her face. She was just happy that she had found him. She dropped her hand back down to her side again and flashed him a small smile. "What are you doing here, Larten?" Her voice was softer now.

Immediately Larten avoided her gaze. He wasn't a man to share what he was doing if it had any sentimental value to it, he preferred his privacy. But with Arra, it was different. He had liked her for a long time and felt like he should just tell her everything, not just about why he was here. But he always restrained himself. "Nothing.. I was just walking.." He said, quite a convincing lie. But Arra knew better.

"Larten Crepsley, you may be a good liar but you don't realise I know you. And I have been watching you for many years now. This is your death day isn't it?" Arra truly had been watching him for a long time, she had fancied him for just as long. And nobody she had asked ever seemed to know where he went. When he didn't answer her, she continued. "Will you tell me why you come here?"

Larten sighed softly and eventually gave in. He leant against the nearby wall and explained the situation. How his family had moved away after he had gone missing. How they had moved back a few generations later and how he checked in on the family every anniversary. "I was searching for the house when I heard a noise down here.."

Arra stayed silent during his explanation and a smile flickered over her lips. "Come on then.." She held out her hand to him and he just stared at it in slight confusion. She took his hand in hers and pulled him out of the alleyway. "Let's find the house and see the family.."

Larten didn't say a word although he was happy that she took him with her. He walked at her side as he concentrated on finding the right house. A few moments later, after turning onto the next road, he paused outside a two storey house. It wasn't that big but who was he to judge? He lived in a cave inside a mountain. He pulled her to a stop and there was an undeniable proud smile on his lips. It had always made him happy to see the families of his siblings. In the window the fire flickered in the fireplace. The sofa was empty and there was nobody to be seen. Releasing Arra's hand, he crept forward up to the window. It was then he noticed the window was open a crack. He froze.

"That's blood.." Arra whispered from behind him, feeling concern flood through her. "Human.." She watched as Larten stiffened and suddenly darted off around the back of the house. "Larten!" She had no choice, she ran after him.

_Please review :)_

_I will add more chapters as soon as I can :P_

_Doggie_


	2. Massacre

By the time Arra had managed to catch up with him, Larten had broken the back door down and was standing protectively over the dead bodies of a man and woman. He was watching a large vampaneze that stood just a few feet away, behind him lay the murdered children, a boy and girl. Larten's eyes never left the large man. He had seen his fair share of Vampaneze but he didn't recognise this one.

"Get out of my way, vampires." The man hissed through gritted teeth. He may be a good fighter but he didn't fancy his chances against two full grown vampires. Blood and saliva dribbled slowly down his chin. He clearly didn't care about losing the precious crimson liquid, having already had his fill.

"Larten, let him pass. I know that you want revenge for this family but you would be starting a war! Would it really be worth it?" Arra pleaded with him, not wanting this night to cause the rift between vampires and vampaneze to grow even wider. She could see the murderous hatred in his eyes, she felt like killing the man also but it risked all of their friends' lives.

"You know that I cannot do that." He growled under his breath, not even sparing her so much as a glance. His hand slowly moved inside the flap of his jacket, withdrawing one of his favoured knives. "He deserves to die!"

The next few seconds contained a flurry of high speed movements of a fight that no human eye could possibly track. But Arra could. Her chest tightened around her heart as she watched anxiously. Larten was faster than she was, faster even than his opponent, so there was no way in which she could be of any help. The fight was over in a mere ten seconds, a yelp of pain filling the air, the knife clattering away across the floor.

Both men held onto each other, the extent of injuries not yet known. A few more moments dragged on before Larten let the body drop to the floor, a gaping wound in the dead man's chest. The orange haired vampire was covered in blood all down his front, including his hand that had dealt the fatal blow. His own blood slowly trickled down his cheek from a slash of sharpened nails.

"Larten?" Arra asked cautiously, rooted to the spot. She had no idea of how he must be feeling. This was a man who rarely lost his composure, "Are you hurt?"

Hearing her voice seemed to snap him back to reality even though he still looked like he was in some sort stupor when he turned to face her. She went to him when she noticed the mark on his cheek, licking her finger before appyling it to the wound. It started to slowly heal up. He trembled just slightly under her hands, shocked by all of this bloodshed within the house. He slowly turned around, taking in the four bodies and the dead vampaneze.

"Something is wrong.." He said slowly, his voice a little rough. He completed his circle and looked back to her. "There's something missing from this place.."

Arra watched as Larten rushed around the room, searching behind the upturned furniture and along broken shelves. He couldn't put his fingeron it in his current state but his mind was screaming at him that there was something he had missed. Something was very important.

"Larten, I think you should-" She was cut off by him suddenly shushing her. His features were creased into a frown of concentration. "What is it?"

"Did you hear that? I could have sworn.." He crossed over to where the mantle piece had lost all of its items and crouched down to search the floor. He rummaged through the mess and slowly rose, holding what looked like a photo frame. He ran his finger down the surface, the cracked glass crunching under his touch. He handed the picture to her and looked towards the staircase in the hallway.

A faint but very recognisable gurgle floated down to their ears. Arra gasped, her eyes on the picture. They both spoke at the same time. "They have twin babies."

"And they survived." Larten added.

_Sorry it took so long_

_Doggie_


End file.
